


Fun Times at Summer Camp

by meganflutefire



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Summer Camp AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-20 16:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2434691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meganflutefire/pseuds/meganflutefire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack, or Frost as he's known to the campers, takes a job as a counselor at Camp Pine Hollow. He mets his fellow counselor Henrik, known as Hiccup to the campers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arriving at Camp

“Alright counselors, welcome to Camp Pine Hollow. I trust you all paid attention in counselor training last week, so I won’t have to waste time repeating all of that common sense information now. Your cabin assignments are posted outside; don’t forget to turn in your camp name, and good luck. Don’t do anything stupid.”

With that, the counselors, old and new, made their way out of staff room; a room meant for the small staff at the little camp, which in past years had grown in popularity. 

Camp Pine Hollow was set between two mountains; from which came the stream that runs through camp and into the lake. The camp itself was laid out in a circle; the mess hall and crafts building in the middle, the lake and ranges on the west end, staff buildings at the north end, girls cabins on the south, and boys cabins on the east. 

The ‘start of camp staff meeting’ came to a close, leaving eager counselors to find their cabin assignments. Veterans of the camp mingled, the girl’s counselors hugged and giggled throughout their introductions. New counselors started making their ways into groups of older counselors, some more eager than others. One white-haired teen awkwardly shuffled towards an obviously shy veteran of the camp. He was tall, dark-haired, and looked to be in his early 20’s. The two stood side-by-side before turning towards each other.

“I really hope Pyro isn’t always like that. Is he an ex-drill sergeant or naturally grumpy?” said the white-haired teen, turning towards the other trying to pull off a convincing smile.

“Don’t worry about head counselor Pyro, he’s always that way. I’m Henrik by the way, but my camp name is Hiccup. After an unfortunate incident a couple summers back.” He said turning to shake hands.

“Oh, um, I’m Jack, I haven’t come up with a camp name yet.” He muttered as the two walked to get their cabin assignments.

“Then tell me about yourself, maybe I could help you come up with a name.” suggested Hiccup. “After all, you don’t - under any circumstance - want the campers to give you your name.”

“I trust you on that.” He smiled, looking down and thinking of the possible names from the campers. After all, a teen with white hair isn’t a common sight. Um, some things about me, first of all, I don’t like summer. I needed a job and this was the only one I could find.”

“Well then this’ll be an interesting summer for you.” Hiccup said chuckling. What season do you prefer then?”

“I actually prefer winter. I dabble in photography, and winter’s just been the season I get my best pictures in.”

They continued walking through the halls of the main office building to where they would find cabin assignments. A crowd was already gathered on the porch. Some counselors cheered with glee seeing they had campers from last summer back in their cabins. Other counselors silently groaned when they saw the names of troublemakers under their cabin. Jack and Hiccup approached the list as the crowd dwindled, and paired counselors planned games and shenanigans for the summer.

“Well here we are at the cabin assignments. The cabins and kids we’ll be living with all summer. No returns or exchanges allowed.” 

“And it looks like we ended up in the same cabin. Hiccup and whatever name I’ll come up with eventually.”

“So your name’s Jack, and you like winter. So... why not Frost?” Hiccup suggested as they made their way to cabin 12.

“Why not Frost?” Jack scoffed, but stopped and sighed. “The kids will be here in an hour so why not?” 

“I was told as a kid that Jack Frost was really good with kids, so why not?” Hiccup said with a slight hand gesture, raising a single eyebrow expectantly at Jack.

“It’s better than what the kids will give me.” Jack laughed.

They stopped when they came to the cabin tucked in-between two maple trees.

“So why do you need a job so badly? College?” asked Hiccup. 

“That’s kind of a long story,” Jack said awkwardly “I, um, got my girlfriend pregnant. We both got kicked out of our homes and need money for rent and all.”

“So where is she while you’re here?” Hiccup inquired, leaning against the rail of the porch.

“She’s a waitress at a barbeque place near the apartment.” Jack stated as he continued up the stairs to the door. 

“You don’t want to talk about this, do you?” Hiccup asked, a bit concerned if he’d gone too far. He followed Jack into the cabin leaving the door open. They looked around the cabin as they talked. There were five sets of bunks, so they’d be in charge of eight boys over the summer.

“It’s just awkward for me to talk about.” Jack sighed, putting his backpack on the bottom bed of the bunk nearest the door. “You mind if I take the bottom?”

“No, no I prefer the top,” said Hiccup, climbing up to his bed “I, as the senior counselor of this cabin, will see all from this strategic position of top bunk.” 

The two laughed until they heard the lunch bell ring, signaling not lunch, but the early arrival of the campers.

“Well Jack Frost, we should be getting to the buses before the boys wander off.”

[line break]

All the boys of cabin twelve were gathered at the base of the porch steps looking up at Hiccup and Jack. 

“Well guys, this is it. You’ll be spending your summer in cabin 12 with me, Hiccup, and Frost over there. Any questions?”

“Yeah,” yelled a pudgier boy “What happened to your leg?”

“Long story short: car accident last summer. Any less personal questions?” 

“Who are you?” Asked a blonde boy with small round glasses.

“You may call me Hiccup,” he put his arm around Jack’s shoulders “and this is Frostbite.” This caused some of the boys to laugh.

“What kind of names are those?” a tall dark-skinned boy asked chuckling.

“Those-what’s your name kid?” replied Jack.

“Logan.”

“Those, Logan, are the names of your counselors.”

“Inside everyone, we should get each other’s names before the dinner bell,” said Hiccup, walking back into the cabin. 

As the boys filed in, Hiccup and Jack glanced at each other before walking in, a look saying ‘It sure is going to be an interesting summer’.

“You ready for this?” Hiccup asked raising his eyebrow.

“It’s too late to back out,” Jack replied “besides; I’ll only tell you my story if you tell me yours.”


	2. Rain

“You know, I never thought dinner would take so much out of me.” Jack admitted with a sigh. The camp’s first dinner was as hectic as Hiccup remembered, but the warning he gave Jack did nothing to prepare him.

“Don’t worry; the first dinner is always the craziest.” Hiccup said with a chuckle “At least the campers didn’t start a food fight like they did last year.”

Hiccup remembered his first dinner at the camp back when he was camper. It was so chaotic that Hiccup still can’t tell if it really happened. At a camp of nearly 100 campers every meal is loud, but the first dinner is just hours after the campers arrive. With everyone trying to find old friends and new campers running around with no idea what’s going on, it can be difficult for counselors to keep control over their cabins.

“I don’t think I even have the energy to go through another dinner let alone the rest of the summer,” said Jack as the two counselors walked towards the campfire “how do you do this every summer?”

“You’ll get used to it,” Hiccup replied, looking to the smoke rising above the trees “have you ever been to a campfire Frost? They can have more energy in them than dinner.” Hiccup inquired, almost tripping over a root in the trail.

“I hope you mean energy as in the whole camp spirit thing.” Jack stated as he laughed at Hiccup’s clumsiness. They approached the campfire where the entire camp had slowly trickled to from dinner. The campfire was surrounded by rows of benches resembling logs, similar to the ones you see in the summer camp movies Jack’s girlfriend made him watch.

The campers were seated with girls on one side and boys on the other. They all sat around in small groups made up of longtime friends and now a new camper or two. The counselors were the last to walk in, all of them walking behind the benches to watch the campers.

“Alright campers,” yelled a blond-haired counselor “due to tonight’s forecast of thunderstorms we have to skip the traditional sing-along and go straight for the s’mores. Head counselors,” he continued “gather up your campers after they get their s’mores from the table and take them quickly back to the cabins.”

Campers rushed towards the tables stacked high with graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. A couple counselors started putting out the fire as there was no time to roast the marshmallows before the storm hit. At that perfect moment, the storm hit.

“Frost!” bellowed Hiccup “Run to the cabin and close the windows. I’ll gather the campers.”

Jack sprinted off to the cabin. The windows had been left wide open to cool off the cabin before lights out.

_Well,_ Jack thought _it looks like I won’t be getting a shower tonight. I was hoping not to have to smell anyone til at least halfway through the summer._

When Jack ran up the steps of the cabin, the rain had already soaked through his shirt. The inside of the cabin, Jack saw, wasn’t completely soaked as he’d expected. A couple of the bunks by the windows were damp, but he’d arrived just in time to close the windows. Sitting down on his bed, Jack took out his phone which he was forbidden to use in front of the campers.

There was a message from Jemima:

_Hey Jack, I’m sorry for exploding on you last week and I’m sorry for not calling you until now. I’m super stressed out right now with my parents harassing me and trying to get through summer classes. I’m making enough at the restaurant to get by, but I miss having you here. Message me when you can._

Besides needing the money from working at camp to care for the baby, Jack needed to get away from Jem. Her moods swings had been getting worse as she got further along. At 7 months Jem’s mood swings had stopped, but Jack was already packing for camp.

_Hey Jem, I just got your message. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to talk, but I’ll try getting some alone time whenever I can. Hope you and the baby are alright._

Jack heard the door knob turn and threw his phone back into his bag. Hiccup and some soaked to the bone campers ran into the cabin. The boys immediately started changing into dry clothes.

“Okay, something happened before we got here.” Hiccup stated as he slowly sat down next to Jack. “Care to tell?”

“Not in front of the campers Hiccup.” Jack sighed. “What now?”

“I suppose we send the campers to bed, and we start planning tomorrow’s activities.” Hiccup handed Jack a paper “This is the list of activities, pick out a couple you’re interested in.”

[line break]

“Hic, I think the boys are asleep.” Jack whispered.

“Looks good from up here” Hiccup replied.

The two counselors quietly got out of their beds and went out onto the porch.

“I didn’t think Alex would ever go to sleep.” Jack said, annoyed it took an hour for the boy to fall asleep.

“He was the way last summer,” Hiccup replied “Now what activities did you pick out.” Leaning against the rails.

“Well I thought arts and crafts would be nice, and what about track and field?” Jack reported.

“Fun ones they are,” Hiccup agreed “we have the assigned activities of the river hike and basketball, so those should fill the empty spots for tomorrow.”

“Is it this easy to plan activities all summer?” Jack wondered aloud.

‘Not always, especially when you want lake time on a hot day.” Hiccup answered “Get some sleep, you’ll need it.”


	3. The River Trail

The morning came fast. The grass was still wet from the night before when the counselors starting waking their campers.

Hiccup dragged himself out of bed and put on a green camp shirt and jeans.

“Jack,” Hiccup whispered “come on, it’s time to get up and dressed.”

“Before the campers take over our lives again.” Jack mumbled into his pillow, his brown hair messier than it was during the day.

“Then you’ll also like knowing our cabin has clean-up duty after breakfast day.” Hiccup stated, as he tied his hiking boots.

“Why do you all come back to this every summer?” Jack complained, finally putting on a blue hoodie and jeans.

“Most of us just love being around kids and like to spend our summers doing what our past counselors did for us.” Hiccup replied, sitting on his bed watching Jack splash water in his face.

“So you came here as a kid too?” Jack asked with a curious look in his brown eyes.

“The camp wasn’t nearly as big as it is now, but yes I did come here as a kid.” Hiccup answered with a smile. “The only summer I missed was after the accident, that summer was spent in hospitals.”

“Let me guess,” Jack asked “you’re not gonna tell me the story til I’m what? Friend level 8?”

Hiccup laughed at that, and got up to wake the campers at the sign of the sunrise.

“I won’t tell you my story until you’re at Friend level 7,” Hiccup replied “that would be when you stop complaining about every little thing at camp.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull that off.” Jack said, getting his and Hiccup’s bags ready by the door.

“Then I’ll just have to implement the 5 positives rule.” Hiccup warned.

The campers were half awake by then, and were looking between Jack and Hiccup as if they were watching a tennis match.

“The 5 positives,” Hiccup continued “is a simple rule, when you complain you must say 5 positives about the negative. Now, when we go to breakfast I hope I won’t be hearing any complaints about it being early.”

The campers followed their two counselors up the wooded trail to the clearing the entire camp met in every morning. Each morning would start at the flagpole 7 am sharp, any late cabin would be volunteered for cleaning duty the next morning. Since Hiccup volunteered his cabin to clean up the first morning, they would be exempt for the next two weeks.

“Welcome back campers!” yelled the camp director “This morning we’ll be having the classic eggs, sausage, and biscuit for breakfast. Do remember to check your schedules counselors, if you haven’t already, go to your activities straight after breakfast. Be back here for lunch at noon. Cabins 8 and 12 will have combined morning activities today due to the storm last night making the ground too wet for a fire.”

Hiccup groaned at the thought of combined activities with that cabin. It wasn’t the thought of too many kids in one place, but the counselor of Cabin 8.

“Hiccup complained.” Alex said loud enough for the rest of the cabin to hear.

“Hiccup,” Jack drawled with a mischievous smile “you know what that means.”

“Okay then,” Hiccup stopped to think if there even were five positive things about Cabin 8’s counselor Aster “He’s kind of good with kids, he can paint, and he can run fast.”

“That’s only three Hiccup.” Said another kid, the quiet one who cried himself to sleep last night.

“Um, he’s tall? Does that count? And he eats healthy?”

“There we go,” said Jack, patting Hiccup on the shoulder “now let’s get to the track.”

[line break]

“Jack,” Hiccup pulled him to the side when they’d arrived at the river trail “Keep a close eye on the kids. We’ll be hiking by a river after a night of rain, we don’t need any injuries on the first day.

“Got it.” Jack said, already walking to Cabin 8’s group. He hadn’t even met the other counselor and was already hearing bad things about him. The man radiated a ‘don’t mess with me’ vibe only accented by his height and oddly large muscles for an artist.

“You’re Jack right?” asked Aster who was filling up water bottles at the well. “You should grab the emergency pack, carry it for us in case something were to happen.”

“Okay then.” Jack slowly turned to the tree where the pack lay. He turned to see Hiccup lifting a backpack onto his shoulders, the one that held all the water bottles for their cabin. Aster too picked up his bag and with a shared glance they started on the trail. Aster led the two cabins leaving Hiccup and Jack in the back.

The trail was muddy, especially near the bank which sloped steeply in some places to the river. A normal river hike involved the campers swimming in calmer parts of the river, but the storm had churned the water and turned it a muddy brown.

“Everyone step carefully here, it’s very slippery.” Aster called, according to the campers his name was Bunny. Yet another odd thing about this counselor. When Jack and Hiccup came around the bend they saw Aster standing by the bank helping the campers across the muddy part of the trail.

“Fortunately,” Hiccup started “the trail widens form here. We won’t have to worry about falling over the ledge past here.”

“Come on Sean, you can get through the mud. Don’t step there!” Sean slipped on a particularly wet glob of mud and was sent right into Aster who lost his balance and fell.

Jack was laughing before he realized Aster wasn’t going to fall in the mud, but down the bank. Hiccup didn’t hesitate to grab a rope and tie it to the tree nearest the trail.

“Jack,” Hiccup said calmly “get the campers back to our cabin and tell the director, quickly.”

Jack had to herd the campers back down the trail as they’d all gathered to watch what was happening. The walk back hadn’t been quiet as Jack had hoped, all the campers were swapping theories of what they thought was going to happen. ‘I thought I heard him fall in the river’, ‘He isn’t dead is he?’, ‘Why didn’t we get an assistant counselor?’

Jack locked the campers in Cabin 12 hoping they wouldn’t destroy the place, and ran to the director’s cabin. Director Pyro leaned over his messy desk writing on a calendar when Jack barged in, he jumped right into his story surprised when Pyro didn’t stop him.

“I’ll send the infirmary staff down the trail and we’ll go from there.” He tapped his pen against the edge of the desk and ran his hand through what little gray hair he had left. The last time someone fell down the bank at the river it had been a camper, and Aster had been the one to get him back up. Besides him, Hiccup was the most trusted counselor at the camp. Aster was trusted well enough not to need an assistant counselor, besides, he didn’t exactly have the temperament to train a counselor.

“Jack, go back to your cabin and stay with the campers. I’ll bring you news when I can.”


	4. The New Counselor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm a few months late updating this. I had half the chapter written and for some reason stopped. Anyways, here's this one and I'll try to update more often. No promises though.

It took nearly an hour for word to get to Jack on the situation. The entire hour Jack was left waiting was spent listening to the campers’ recounts of what they thought had happened. Those were then followed by questions aimed at Jack on what was going to happen. Aster’s campers were worried the most, as they couldn’t go back to their cabin without a counselor.

“Jack,” said a quiet voice from outside the cabin. Jack recognized it as Hiccup and knew that the use of his real name entailed bad news. The campers had gone silent at the knock at the door. Hiccup still stood outside the screen door when he spoke next. “Pyro wants to see you in the infirmary, I’ll watch the campers.”

Jack stood slowly off his bed and met a nervous looking Hiccup at the door. Hiccup was covered in mud and dirt, his shoes looked soaked through, and his usual smile was missing. Jack smiled nervously at him as he walked down the porch stairs, leaving his confused campers behind.

The rest of camp looked to have gone on with their normal schedules. Jack spotted campers jumping off the dock into the lake, and counselors walking in pairs to the break room. Some shouts came from the football fields and laughter from the arts and crafts cabin. Jack stared at said cabin knowing that Aster was the arts and crafts instructor, apparently an impromptu instructor had been put in Aster’s place.

[line break]

Meanwhile, the infirmary was occupied by the injured, the nervous, and the agitated. The injured being Aster, the nervous being the new nurse, and the agitated being camp director Pyro. Pyro had been pacing the small room as the three waited for the paramedics to arrive. The camp nurse could only do so much, she wasn’t able to meet the others at the river trail as she was pregnant. Aster had to be painfully carried by Hiccup and Pyro to the start of the trail where the nurse waited with a wheelchair.

“Tooth-“Aster started, correcting himself “Jemima, I suppose you don’t mind since the campers aren’t around. Could you hand me my bag?”

“What do you need out of it?” the normally energetic nurse asked.

“Just the water bottle.” He answered, reaching for the bottle handed to him.

“Before the paramedics get here Aster,” Pyro asked “what do you think I should do with your campers?”

“Split them up I suppose.”

“We don’t have enough bunks in the other cabins to do that, you know this.”

“There aren’t any other trained counselors ready to take over.”

“There’s Jack.” Pyro suggested.

“The kid’s not ready, you should know that.”

“He’s more ready than the others, and at this point I’d be ready to put him in there.”

“Then why are you asking me sir?”

“Because depending on what the hospital says, you will need some help with your cabin.”

“Assuming the hospital lets me come back this summer.”

“Assuming you’ll come back regardless of what they say.”

Aster smiled seeing the truth in the statement, starting to respond as the door creaked open. A nervous looking Jack stood peeking through the door. Pyro urged him inside and shut the door so no eavesdropping campers could listen in.

Jack had barely made it through the door when he noticed who the nurse was. “Jem?”

“Hey Jack.” She responded with a nervous smile.

“You two know each other?” Aster asked, looking back and forth between the two.

“Of course they do,” Pyro answered, surprising everyone “I approved both of them to work here since a baby shouldn’t have to be without its parents.”

The silence that filled the room was soon occupied by the sound of sirens.

“Here we go.” Aster mumbled.

“I expect to see you back here within the week.” Pyro called as the ambulance drove away.

“Excuse me sir, why exactly did you call me here?” Jack asked.

“You are taking over Aster’s cabin until he returns, then you will stay as his assistant.” Pyro answered.

“But he hates me!” Jack exclaimed.

“Oh trust me Jack, Aster may dislike you, but he does not hate you.” Pyro reassured, walking back to his office.

“So Jack,” Jem said “I suppose I owe you an explanation.”

 


	5. Secrets Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a few months late, but I really needed to get back into the writing groove. I hope to add another chapter soon, but no promises.

A week had already passed with Jack as a new counselor, and he was exhausted. Jack sat on his bunk hoping to get some rest during his personal free time, the campers had been taken all together to the lake to give the counselors the free time. Instead of sleep, all Jack got were his thoughts reeling by. Jem, or Tooth as the kids call her, here at camp. The baby a few months from being born. Aster’s due back any day now, and I’m not ready for that at all. Hiccup always looks exhausted without my help. How do these people do this every summer?

A knock on the door sounded through the silent cabin. With a groan, Jack sat up and opened the door to a smiling Jem, er Tooth.

“What’re you doing on the boys side of camp?” Jack asked with a grin.

“Oh you know, just looking for a date down to the lake tonight.” Tooth answered “I actually came to tell you the baby was kicking this morning.”

Jack froze and stared nervously at Tooth. Tooth rolled her eyes and grabbed Jack’s hand to put her her growing belly.

“How is she?” Jack asked quietly, still in awe of the kicks he felt.

“She’s as energetic as you Jack, but I should be going.” Tooth said, turning to go out the door. “I have a sick camper in the infirmary.”

“Are we still on for that date tonight?” Jack called as she walked down the steps, holding onto the railing.

“Pick me up after lights out.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack honestly thought his free time wouldn’t get anymore exciting than it already had, but yet again he was proven wrong.

“Jack,” Hiccup said, suddenly coming through the cabin’s door “Pyro told me Aster’s just gotten back, and to prepare yourself.”

“Prepare myself for what?” Jack asked, glad to see his friend, but irritated at the interrupted sleep.

“A grumpy Bunny Jack,” Hiccup answered “and fix your hair, it’ll be one less thing for Aster to get annoyed about.”

“Oh come on, my hair’s always been like this.” Jack whined, trying to tame his hair a little bit at least.  
“Just don’t give him anything to get angry about,” Hiccup said, smiling worriedly “apparently the doctor said something about Aster’s stress levels being too high.”

“What are the chances of them sending him home?” Jack asked almost hopefully.

“It would stress him out even more,” Hiccup said shaking his head “camp is his distraction.”

“From what?” Jack asked confused.

“Don’t tell him I told you this,” Hiccup said quietly “but Aster’s been trying to adopt his little sister. Apparently they both grew up in foster care, and the process is stressing him out.”

“And I’d appreciate you not telling him anymore of my past.” Aster interrupted. He leaned on crutches just in the doorway, scowling at the two standing by Jack’s bed.

“Now if you don’t mind, I’d like some sleep after a week with the machines.”

“And Jack,” Aster added, with a smile “Tooth told me about your little girl on the way, and let me be the first to tell you, she’ll be one of the best things to ever happen to you.”


End file.
